Each season, Zizzi (www.zizzi.dk), a Danish plus-size marque, publishes intriguing new promotions featuring lovely full-figured model Valerie Lefkowitz. These campaigns navigate a middle path between timeless and contemporary aesthetics, and while they are not purely traditional expressions of historic, Old World beauty, neither are they overly tainted by modernist elements.

Of course, the fact that Valerie herself exhibits such a quintessentially girlish look, with her golden hair and fair complexion, helps to soften the campaigns and give them an extra touch of attractive femininity that they would lack with a harsher-featured, more androgynous model.

Past promotions from this label have fluctuated in their depiction of Valerie's curves. The current campaign is slightly better than average, in this respect, as it does indicate that Valerie is a curvaceous size 14 (though fans will forever wish that she might regain her more opulent appearance of yore).

What's more, although in previous seasons Valerie shot for only one of the three Zizzi labels ("Zay Clothing," which is the marque's junior-plus line), for this new holiday 2011 campaign Valerie headlines all three Zizzi divisions. She is the face (and figure) of the company as a whole.

This being a holiday promotion, the shoot exhibits a festive theme. The home page welcomes visitors with a rotating selection of cover images, several of which are quite beautiful. In this picture, for example, Valerie playfully teases her long blonde hair--a flirtatious gesture that is sure to enthral every viewer.

The model looks especially attractive in the next cover photo, in which her tresses acquire a touch of extra volume thanks to the bounce of her gait (for the image captures her in mid-stride as she walks toward the camera). She is as proud as a lioness, utterly secure in her charms.

A third cover presents Valerie in a nocturnal mode, unleashing her party spirits. Observe, in all three of these cover images, how dazzlingly white her complexion appears. One wishes that her limbs were fuller, but one cannot help but adore the fairness of her soft skin.

Although one can find many images of Valerie in the "collections" section of the Zizzi web site, the finest presentation of her latest photos appears in the official Zizzi magazine, a quarterly custom publication that is a cut above the usual standard for a company magalog. The cover shows a fuller-length version of the coy, hair-teasing photograph that appears in rotation on the Zizzi home page.

Inside, many of the campaign's photos are displayed as multi-page editorial layouts, including the terrific shot of Valerie partying the night away with complete abandon. (Please forgive the grey shading. The online viewing program regrettably adds this shadowing to mimic the visual effect of having light fall unevenly on the curled pages of a print publication.)

Valerie's walking shot makes an even greater impact when one sees the photograph in full length, showing the model sauntering down the hotel hallway as if she were on a couture catwalk. Every curvy girl should exude this kind of confidence. Valerie leads the way.

Continuing with the red theme, the following picture shows the model reposing on a plush sofa, saucily thrusting out her curvy hips (her finest figure feature). The ruby hat is a delightful touch, and the cocktail reminds viewers that part of the epicurean pleasure of being a full-figured goddess is that a girl can freely enjoy food and drink, abandoning self-denial and miserable "moderation." There is a sense of uninhibited freedom about this image that is quite infectious.

Say what one will about the top, but the next layout is quite chic, with Valerie in an eye-catching French beret and looking quite saucy. The decor around her adds considerable visual interest.

Another partying photograph--this one suggesting a New Year's celebration, with the uncorking of the champagne--finds Valerie in the company of a model whom readers might recognize from a recent post on this forum.

Stumped? The accompanying model is Tess Henstra, whom we recently introduced, and who practically collects agencies (now being signed with Clear Models in Munich and Muse Models in New York, in addition to the four boards that we listed in our post about this Dutch looker). The following is Tess's own finest image of the campaign.

Another picture of Tess takes advantage of her 48" hips, which fill out her jeans in an attractive manner. Denim may not be a hallmark of traditional femininity, but no one can deny that genuinely full-figured models, especially those with a generous hip measurement, look far more attractive in jeans than do their faux-plus (let alone minus-size) rivals.

Of course, as mentioned earlier, Valerie has a very attractive pear-shaped figure in her own right, as the following page from the Zizzi magazine demonstrates.

The rest of the image featured below are simpler studio shots, but they still exert an undeniable appeal. In this image, for example, the model's pants define an appealing hint of a curvaceous abdomen.

Even in more straightforward commercial images, Zizzi permits Valerie to adopt creative poses such as this,

and expressions such as this.

Valerie's celebrated contours successfully fill out this dress and give it more of a womanly shape than it would posses on a smaller, straight-up-and-down model, on whom it would merely hang like a sack.

The next picture offers a second look at Valerie's cute headwear. In a black-and-white ensemble such as this, the hat adds just the right splash of colour. The blouse is loose, but one perceives a sensual swell at the model's midsection.

Even when modelling a simple shirt, Valerie creates a gorgeous look, thanks to her intrinsic beauty and a self-assured pose and expression. The voluminous hairstyle enhances her appeal.

Finally, this image of the model ready for a night on the town shows her in decadent fur, a wardrobe choice that has proliferated in the current season.

* * *

Fine as all of the above image are, the real treat of the campaign is Zizzi's accompanying behind-the-scenes video. We have never before seen Valerie looking as playful and consciously seductive as she does in these clips. Many of the visuals in this video are far superior to any of the published photographs.

Watch, for example, a delicious sequence as Valerie saunters toward the photographer while tossing her hair in a flirtatious manner, beginning at 0:14. No man alive could resist such coquetry.

Valerie's expression at 0:38 is delightfully girlish, her smiles utterly adorable. Watch for more playfulness at 1:12 and following. The sequence beginning at 1:33 finds Valerie looking more attractively full-figured than at any other point in the video or in the still images. The sheer pleasure that she takes in her own beauty is irresistible.

Watch too for an amusing moment toward the end of the video when the models douse the photographer's camera with champagne. The video subsequently shows him frantically cleaning his undoubtedly expensive equipment. But the sacrifice was well worth it.

Valerie fans will especially enjoy the generous length of the video, while potential Zizzi customers will appreciate the fact that the footage even more effectively displays the label's fashions than do the still images.

(Click the centre or bottom-left arrows to play the video.)

Kudos to Zizzi for another outstanding campaign and for allowing Valerie to represent all three Zizzi brands, which she does very well indeed.

And bravo to Valerie for such a delightful display of her modelling talent, for being as curvaceous as she is, and for exuding the kind of body love and exciting self-adoration that all curvy girls should to emulate.

Fine as all of the above image are, the real treat of the campaign is Zizzi's accompanying behind-the-scenes video. We have never before seen Valerie looking as playful and consciously seductive as she does in these clips. Many of the visuals in this video are far superior to any of the published photographs.

Oh, I absolutely agree. Valerie looks attractive in the still images, of course, but she really comes to life in the video. It gives an exciting sense of her personality. I never realized how minx-like and coquettish she is. So adorable! I wish more of her campaigns came with videos.

And I do think her figure looks curvier in the video than in the stills. She might yet regain her more generous curves. At least I hope so.

With that in mind, I was browsing Tess's online portfolio at Ego's Models and lo and behold, look what I discovered -- an unpublished photograph from this Zizzi campaign.

I can't imagine why Zizzi hasn't placed it on their web site. Both models look fantastic, but Valerie's figure looks especially beautiful here, with a round fullness at her middle that's extremely attractive.